register55 (one of my “little” projects) has just re-launched our website that offers any Australian ‘bricks and mortar’ retailer a free online store. It’s hard to believe, but there are still wholesalers and distributors that are in denial that the internet is here… and it’s not going away. They firmly believe they can protect their turf, simply by ignoring that which is plainly obvious.

Most of our suppliers are located in Sydney and Melbourne, but we’re expecting to be soon shipping from as far away as Perth and Brisbane. So far, our most remote retailer is in Newman, West Australia – that’s 450km south west of port Hedland in the Pilbara!

I recently had a call from a guy who was concerned that the main listing when Googling his name was about a appearance he had to make in front of a Government regulatory body, and telling them he wouldn’t work in the financial services industry for at least 5 years.

He was worried (I think) that this might damage his professional reputation. He’s probably right given that many recruiters now do an online search for a potential candidate, by name, to see what they find.

His call prompted me to Google myself. I do online marketing, but if you search for John Cuthbertson, you’re likely to find my ‘hobby’ photography website. I’m quite happy with people knowing I do photography, but as a day job, I really need to raise my online marketing professional profile. So I’ve started working on it… and I’ll keep tracking my progress here.

I’ve also set up a new online business offering online reputation management services. After thinking about it, I’ve come to believe it’s search engine optimisation (SEO) in reverse. Rather than targeting long tail keyword searches (the most effective marketing strategy I know of, given the high conversion rate), online reputation management involves niche marketing, targeting a single phrase i.e. a person’s or business’ name.

In order to not leave any members behind, the herd only moves as fast as the slowest elephant.

In actual fact, I have no idea whether this is true or not, but the concept certainly fits well with business.

For some reason, the status quo is usually “do nothing”. The less conservative partners (or decision makers) have to prove to the more conservative players that a change should be made, or new strategy attempted.

Sometimes this is on gut-feel, sometimes on demonstrable statistics (for whatever they are worth), but most times, on a bit of both. The demoralising thing for the innovators is they have to drag their feet until the rest catch up.

When the world is focussed on moving forward at an ever-increasing pace, an opportunity can be missed, or even worse, the motivation lost to push the changes through.

I’ve long believed it’s not about being right, it’s about being the most convincing. Others won’t question you if you sound like you know what you’re talking about, and there’s a chance they may embarrass themself if they need to argue their point.

After posting the short Seth Godin video, it occurred to me why he makes such an impact. Seth backs himself. He has the nerve to say that which many of us are often already thinking, but not sure enough of until we hear it from someone else’s mouth.

That’s not to say I don’t stick my neck out…but perhaps, I should do it more often.

There’s an intersection in Newtown, Sydney (the corner of King Street and Church Street) where the traffic turning on to King Street has to wait an eternity for the lights to change green.

When they finally do, the long line of waiting cars RACE through the intersection, knowing the lights stay green for only a short time (15 seconds, to be exact). For at least 10 seconds of that time, cars turning left are waiting for pedestrians, so the traffic is stationary.

I’m sure it’s all in the interests of keeping traffic flowing along King Street (also known as the Princes Highway).

There are so many near misses it’s scary. A few more seconds of green and waiting drivers would be less stressed, they’d drive through with patience, and the danger would disappear.

What would it take for a traffic engineer to think it worthwhile to take a look?

I have Swedish friend Freddie who’s been in Sydney for less than a year but is in the process of establishing his own plumbing business in the Eastern suburbs (Bondi, Coogee, Double Bay…that kind of area).

Anyway, we’ve decided to offer a prepaid service to have a plumber go to house and replace all the washers in all the taps, in one go. It seems that most plumbers can’t be bothered with such a minor task. It also seems that most people might think is strange to pay upfront. The thing is, we’re guaranteeing that the plumber turns up on time.

I thought writing a blog could not be that difficult. Yet it’s weeks since I lasted posted anything.

I’ll try and be a little more committed to the cause.

I’ve decided to move the office “permanently” to Balmain. There are plenty of business ideas in the pipeline and Simon and I have decided to move ahead with printing some business cards. We’ll be offering internet and marketing strategic services. The description sounds a little complicated but the idea is this:

We have a business contact us for a webiste quote and/or design

We attempt to quote, but given the client’s “brief” is a little bit TOO brief (and from experience we know that the scope will only get bigger rather than smaller), we’re left scratching our heads for a few days

When the scratching stops, we quote but probably have to inflate the price because of unknown (although more likely, just “undefined”) contingencies

We’ve decided not to provide website quotes up front. First, we’ll offer (for a fee, of course) to help the client prepare a detailed brief for a web developer to quote on. The benefits of a detailed requirements specification:

The website (if they still believe they need one) will meet their business and marketing objectives

The website will function in a way that the client needs (rather than in a way that the developer thinks is “cool”) and the website will integrate with the client’s other business activities

The website can actually provide a return on investment. Obviously, we can’t guarantee sales (or other types of conversions), but at least we’ll minimise the cost/effort to make and/or fulfill a converted visit.

So…the client gets a website that works, whether or not we actually develop the site. We’re moving a step up the web development food chain. We’re happy for others to do the website development, but perhaps those developers might be happy for us to help them (and their clients) with defining their requirements.

Well, Simon has challenged me to a little competition. He’s set up a competing site, and we’re going to see who can make the most money from selling jewels, or at least, who makes the first sale. Hopefully, with free delivery worldwide, someone from the USA might make a purchase.